Therapeutic Approaches

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, is currently the best known approach to psychotherapy.  It is based on the idea that emotional problems are caused by false beliefs and thoughts that are often unconscious.  The therapy involves a conversation between client and therapist reveal and change the troubling beliefs that lie beneath painful emotions.

Therapists use different methods to do this.   Traditional talk therapy provides the client with a place to vent feelings about life situations.  As the story unfolds, the therapist takes note of the places where illogical beliefs and thoughts may be present.  In a respectful, compassionate, and safe environment, the therapist helps the client to sort out those beliefs and to adopt new ways of thinking out problems.  Successful treatment results as the client forms healthy beliefs about himself or herself, which leads to constructive problem-solving and symptom relief.

Jungian-based Depth Psychology 

Do you ever label yourself or others?  Words like “bad mother,” “scapegoat,” “innocent,” and “hero” are Archetypes that live in all of us.   They are universal images and themes that we experience in our feelings and relationships.   Dreams, fantasies, images, and daydreams bring us glimpses of those archetypes and our relationship to them.

As we learn to befriend the parts of ourselves which seem negative or fearful, self-acceptance and appreciation grow and flourish.  ”Shadow” projections against others are gradually withdrawn so that outer relationships become clearer and cleaner.

Depth work is a courageous and sometimes arduous process, but those who are called into this kind of inner work are rewarded with a greater consciousness of the Self, and a growing sense of relationship with Divine Mystery.  This approach to therapy is aptly called soul-work.

Thought Field Therapy

Thought Field Therapy is a cutting-edge treatment that alleviates symptoms of anxiety, phobias, depression, addictive cravings, and trauma by simple exercises which are easy to learn.

The “thought field” is referred to as the energy field, aura, or the subtle body.  While Western medicine sees the body as the transmitter of energy, Eastern healing is based on the premise of an energy field which surrounds the body, nurturing and protecting it.

Healing from emotional and psychological pain is often a long and arduous journey.  Thought Field Therapy offers a method of alleviating painful emotions and related physical symptoms.  The client usually feels immediate and lasting relief.  And because the treatment teaches the client to relieve her or his symptoms, the sense of empowerment is remarkable.

TFT treats the same acupoints as acupuncture; however, rather than puncturing the point with a needle, TFT simply taps gently on the point a few times.  Incredible emotional relief often comes from this simple skill, which helps dissolve the imbalances in energy which created the disturbing emotions in the he first place.

This new energy psychotherapy, developed by psychologist Dr. Roger Callahan, utilizes applied kinesiology to detect the presence of limiting beliefs, meridian imbalances, and neurological disorganization.  Treatment with this simple method appears to be too good to be true.  However, the quick and lasting Therapeutic results of Thought Field Therapy have brought this new “power therapy” to the attention of therapists all over the country.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a revolutionary approach to the treatment of anxiety, stress, mood disorders, and trauma-related problems like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  It is effective, powerful in its capacity to bring immediate and lasting relief, and it is generally non-invasive.

In order for EMDR to be effective, the patient, who has often been “therapized to death” in search of relief, can choose how much or how little s/he wants to talk about the actual memories and events which perpetuate the distress.

EMDR was created by Francine Shapiro, a clinical psychologist who made a rather serendipitous discovery when she realized that certain  repetitive eye movements gave her instant relief from anxiety and troublesome thoughts.  As she continued to test the method on others, she discovered that they almost universally experienced relief from symptoms when she directed them in simple eye movements.  They reported relief from depression, anxiety, traumatic memories, obsessive thinking, intractable guilt and grief, and a host of other conditions treated regularly by psychotherapists.

EMDR is based on the theory that symptoms are caused by traumatic memories that get stored in short term memory instead of in long term memory.  When we remember a painful event that occurred a long time ago, we generally feel a tinge of sadness or regret, but we see the whole situation, too–ways that we have grown from the event, happy memories of the person who has died, etc.  We see it in the larger context of our entire life.

When an event is stored in short term memory, no matter how long ago the actual event happened, it causes the symptoms associated with ongoing, immediate trauma.  Chronic anxiety, re-living of the event through flashbacks, nightmares, poor concentration, an intensified “startle” response, guilt, inability to think toward the future without fear of another traumatic event, are all symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  Although PTSD is often associated with life events such as war, rape, natural disaster, and witnessing a violent death or crime, such symptoms can also result from recurring memories of childhood abuse, a traumatic car accident, loss of a loved one through death or divorce, or the experience of life threatening illness.

EMDR, in layman’s terms, facilitates the shift of the traumatic issue from short-term to long-term memory.  Patients report an instant shift toward  well being, a sense of release, a feeling of peace and acceptance, and a deep appreciation for their own strength after EMDR therapy.

 

For more information about any of these approaches, please contact me:

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